[at-l] hiker caste system

[chaynes@megalink.net (Clifford R. Haynes)]

> Take these four hikers
> A..a 5 ft.100 pound woman who carried a 30 lb pack 80% (slacked 20%) of
the
> time but
> always managed good humor and cheer and was a joy to hike with.
> B.  a 6.5 200 pound man who carried a 30lb pack 100% but was a grouch who
> complained all the way to Maine making everyone near him miserable.
> C   a 150 pound man who carried part of his wife's stuff in his 50 pound
> pack all the way to Maine except for two days when he was injured and
> slacked.
> D   his wife at 120 pounds who carried only her personal stuff (no tent)
but
> carried it all the way.
>
> How do you arrange these hikers?

Arrange them for what? Yah want them lines up for a parade, if so I usually
prefer from shortest in front to tallest in the rear. If you put the tall
ones in front , the short ones can't stay in step due to the tall persons
normal  longer stride. Course if you do a to the rear march the tall folks
got to take it easy, or you better to dah rear them again before long. If
your talking about who would I rather hike with, well yah never know
depends. I've seen folks managing good humor and cheer that some folks
thought were a joy to hike with that I couldn't stomach for very long. I
have also seen complainin grouches that weren't half bad to hike with, even
if the did make everyone else miserable.
If you trying to get at a caste system, I suppose some folks have to
classify folks into caste groups, often based on there styles and
preferences ( there's often being one of the upper castes in there system).
Personally I don't much care about other folks caste systems on the trail. I
suppose some folks need them to be comfortable with there place in life, but
I have never felt the need for it.